The Darkest Hour
by melli-elle
Summary: Nadaclaw only wants to help out his clan. Taricoat wants to make sure his leader and mate survive. Fujieye wants to mischevious, while getting her way. Watch these three cats that need to learn the real meaning of the Warrior code.
1. Allegiances

**Allegiances**

**DemonClan**

**Leader:** Murastar

A beautiful grey-blue she cat with a yellow tip at the edge of his tail, the sign of Demon Clan.

**Deputy:** Nadaclaw

A black tom with a white muzzle

Apprentice: Harapaw

**Medicine Cat**

Nagiflower

A brown dappled she-cat

**Warriors**

Nioustorm

A pure white she-cat with black feet

Yagneedle

A brown tom with circular marks around his eyes.

Jackstream

A brown tom with very little fur

**Apprentices**

Harapaw

A black tom with strange red eyes and a yellow tip on his tail.

**Queens**

Maruleaf

A pretty red she-cat, still kitting.

**No elders.**

* * *

**IceClan**

**Leader:** Atostar

A beautiful grey she-cat with a white star mark on her forehead, the sign of IceClan.

**Deputy:** Taricoat

A strong grey-blue tom with a white tail tip

Apprentice: Hiyopaw

**Medicine Cat:** Takiheart

A purplish grey she-cat with white feet

**Warriors**

Shidowind

A plain brown she-cat, who chopped off her own tail to prove her worthiness to become a warrior.

Otopelt

A slivery white tom with bright blue eyes

Apprentice: Kabapaw

Jirofur

A ginger she-cat with white dapples

**Apprentices**

Hiyopaw

A brown tom with a white star on his head

Kabapaw

A large dark brown tom with black feet

**Queens**

Gakuleap

A deep red she-cat with bright blue eyes

**Kits:** Bluekit and Redkit

**Elders**

Sakaeye

A grey tom with white ears

* * *

**PillarClan**

**Leader:** Tezukastar

A brown tom with circular patterns down his back, the mark of PillarClan

**Deputy:** Oishiheart

A black tom with a pale brown face

**Medicine cat:** Inufang

A black tom with bright green eyes.

**Apprentice:** Kaidpaw

**Warriors**

Takaface

A brown tom with white dapples

Momoclaw

A black and white tom

Apprentice: Ryopaw

Fujieye

A light brown she-cat with bright blue eyes

**Apprentices**

Kaidpaw

A black she-cat who wears a crown of thorns on her head as a sign of her apprenticeship

Ryopaw

A dark grey she-cat with circular patterns over her back

**Queens**

Eijiblaze

Kits: Chillkit and Tawnykit

**Elders**

Ryupaw

An old ginger she-cat who got attacked when she was till an apprentice.

* * *

**LeftClan**

**Leader:** Sengostar

A ginger tom with a green stripe down his back, the symbol of LeftClan

**Deputy:** Tachisong

A black tom with a white dot on his head

Apprentice: Kamipaw

**Medicine Cat**

Saekiwing

A black and white tom

**Apprentice:** Aoipaw

**Warriors**

Akufang

A large grey tom

Davileaf

A ginger she-cat with a funny back leg

Banpelt

A dark brown tom

Ishilight

A cream coloured she-cat with a bandage wrapping her left ear

Apprentice: Shipaw

**Apprentices**

Kamipaw

A dark red she-cat with a lot of fur

Shipaw

A lithe black tom with a green stripe down his back

Aoipaw

A black tom with a white underbelly and very coarse fur

**Queens**

Danfrost

A black she-cat with a crooked tail

**Kits:** Poolkit and Palekit

Kisashimmer

A she-cat with long black fur. Still kitting.

* * *

Miss Ella: Guess what? I know everyone's just dieing for a Warriors Prince of Tennis Crossover, so here it is, with our favourite tennis players as cats!!!

And yes, I understand that I'm going to get shot for making about half of them female, but come on, anyone whose actually read Warriors will know there's no point to it without having kits.


	2. Chapter 1

The Darkest Hour

Chapter One

Disclaimer: I don't own the idea, or the characters... I own the story though! That makes me happy!

* * *

Sitting on the ledge of the hills of DemonClan, looking up at the night sky, sat Nadaclaw. Tonight was the night his best friend left to get her nine lives from star clan, and he would be named deputy. He wasn't sure he was ready, after what had happened to the four clans in the past moons.

No, he definitely wasn't ready for this…

"Still up here brooding?" came a sharp, clear voice from behind him, and he turned to see Nioustorm, the newest warrior of DemonClan, who had been asked to stay behind to patrol the camp, like everyone else who had survived.

"I am not brooding," Nadaclaw replied, glaring at the she-cat for a moment, before turning back to the night sky. "Future deputies do not brood."

"You say that now, Nadaclaw, but what happens now that Muraleaf becomes Murastar, and you're going to be in charge of all that goes on, hmm? You going to boss us all around?"

Nadaclaw glared at Nioustorm, before jumping down off the rock, and walked past her, not looking at her.

"It's like you don't care at all…"

"Nadaclaw! Nadaclaw!" came a shrill voice as Nadaclaw entered the camp, which was surrounded by high hedges to keep out wild animals aswell as the other clans. The almost deputy looked over at the apprentice den, aswell as the only apprentice left; Harapaw. Harapaw had lost his parents in the Dark Hour, but was all the stronger for it. The mark on his tail marked him as the next great leader of DemonClan, and Harapaw was more then excited for it.

"What is it, Harapaw? Can't you wait patiently until Muraleaf returns?" he asked, and the small black tom shook his head.

"No, I can't, I can't! I'm anxious, I tell you, and Maruleaf already kicked me out of the nursery, and Nagiflower kicked me out of the medicine cat's den, and it's boring in the apprentice's den without Flowerpaw, and don't get me started on the elder's den!"

"Calm down, Harapaw," came the calming voice of Nagiflower, the beautiful brown dappled medicine cat. "Nadaclaw is stressed about Muraleaf."

"But Nioustorm told me we should call her Murastar now, Nagiflower!"

"I know she did, but what have I told you about listening to Nioustorm?"

Harapaw sighed, before looking up at Nadaclaw. "Nadaclaw? Can I go chase rabbits in the hills and bring one back for Maruleaf?"

Nadaclaw sighed, before nodding. "If only to keep you out of our hair, then yes. And find Jackstream and Yagneedle, they're patrolling the PillarClan border, as well as looking for news on how Tezukastar's going…" Nadaclaw sighed as he watched Harapaw dart the gap between the hedges, before turning to Nagiflower.

"I still say you would of made a wonderful Queen, Nagiflower," he said, as the two began to walk together around the camp. Nadaclaw, Muraleaf and Nagiflower had been apprentices together, and had gotten their warrior's names together.

Nagiflower sighed, before looking at her paws. "I know, but my path lead with StarClan…" she sighed again, shaking her head, before heading over to the medicine cat's den. "Maruleaf is nearly ready to kit… we were lucky the darkness didn't reach any of the camps."

"Yes," Nadaclaw replied with a growl. "Because otherwise there would be no cats left to take on the camps."

"What I would like to know is how LeftClan was left untouched by the darkness," Nagiflower said, as she lay down in the stream of sunlight at the edge of her den.

"Sengostar said it was because the darkness didn't touch the forest for some reason, which doesn't make much sense…" Nadaclaw sighed, before hearing something just outside the camp. He leaped to the edge of the camp, and poked his head out. "Who's there?" he asked, in his most demanding voice, and out popped the beautiful head of Murastar.

"Nadaclaw… I need to call a meeting, if you will?"

Nadaclaw nodded, smiling at his old friend, before moving out of the way and into the clearing. "Jackstream and Yagneedle are on patrol, and I sent Harapaw hunting. Nioustorm and Nagiflower are still in camp."

"Thank you, Nadaclaw," Murastar replied, giving him a slight smile, before bounding up to the tree stump at the edge of the clearing, and jumping up on top of it. "Let all cats old enough to squeeze through the hedge stand beneath Demon Stump for a clan meeting."

Nadaclaw stepped up to sit in front of the tree stump, and Nioustorm sat beside him, with Harapaw curling up in her fur, the contrast of black on white striking. A grunt came, as the very heavily pregnant Maruleaf came out of the nursery, just as Nagiflower came out of her den, and rushed to Maruleaf's side.

"You should not be out of the nursery, Maruleaf," Nagiflower insisted, and Maruleaf just mewed, shaking her head.

"You think I'm going to lay around all lazy like when Murastar just got her name? She gets to appoint her deputy now!"

Nagiflower sighed, but instead of denying the queen, she helped her over to sit beside Nioustorm and Nadaclaw.

"Wait for us!" came a loud yelp, and Nadaclaw nearly fell forward as Harapaw skitted into the clearing, Jackstream and Yagneedle on his tail.

"We didn't want to miss it either, Murastar," Yagneedle said politely, bowing his head to DemonClan's newest leader.

Murastar purred at her now diminished clan, and nodded. "StarClan has given me my nine lives, and I intend to spend everyone of them making sure our clan survives for a much longer time then the darkness would of allowed. As for my first duty as leader, I name Nadaclaw my deputy!"

The cats in the clearing start to meow loudly. "Nadaclaw! Nadaclaw!" Nadaclaw nodded, not even the slightest smile in his eyes showing his emotions as he stood and moved to sit next to the demon stump. Murastar waved her blue tail about, demanding silence again from her clan, and the cats quieted.

"These are dark times. I don't need to warn you of this. The clans need to band together, but stay separate at the same time to survive. I expect all of us to honor the Warrior's code, and I ask you all to be kind, yet firm with the other clans. That is all," she said, and let out a mrow as she jumped off of demon stump.

"Nadaclaw, organise a hunting party. We don't need to send patrols to PillarClan and IceClan's borders, not after the darkness," Murastar said, as she started to pat towards what was now her den.

"Do you think Tezukastar and Atostar will not send patrols along our borders, Murastar? And what about LeftClan?"

"LeftClan's territory only borders ours for a few tail lengths, they won't be able to get to ours without passing through one of the others, and LeftClan has trouble passing the high cliffs of IceClan."

Nadaclaw sighed, before bowing his head. "As you wish, Murastar," he said, before leaving the blue she-cat to go into her den alone. He turned back to look at the other cats, as Nagiflower helped Maruleaf back into the nursery.

"Nioustorm! Take Jackstream and Harapaw out to hunt. He needs to get his hunting down before he becomes a warrior…"

The white she-cat glared at Nadaclaw for a moment, before sighing, and mewing under her breath "You should train your own apprentice, Nadaclaw…" before beckoning the brown tom and Harapaw with her tail, and the three of them made their way out.

"Murastar's going to have to figure it out, you know," Nagiflower mewed from beside Nadaclaw, and Nadaclaw turned to look at her.

"Figure what out?"

"If Nioustorm is needed more as a warrior, or more as a queen."

Nadaclaw frowned. "Murastar can't force Nioustorm to have a mate," he hissed, and Nagiflower shook her head.

"Nioustorm has a mate. Nioustorm has loved Yagneedle nearly since the day they became apprentices together, and vice versa. But Nioustorm is determined not to be kitted. And let's admit, she probably wouldn't be much of a mother…"

"But it still lands under the fact that Nioustorm can't be forced to kit! If she doesn't want to kit, she doesn't have to."

Nagiflower sighed, before looking at the nursery. "What are Maruleaf's kits going to do when they grow up? Perhaps, perhaps one of them could mate with Harapaw, but what happens after that? If this nothing happens, Nadaclaw, the Clan will die out. If Murastar does nothing, the clan will die out."

Neither of them even noticed the sharp grey eyes watching the two intently.

* * *

"REDKIT! BLUEKIT! GET BACK HERE, NOW!" came a shrill yelp from the edge of a cave in the ridge in the mountain. Two tiny kits, one red, one blue-grey, skitted past their mother and to the entrance of the camp, where a tall blue-grey tom was walking into the camp, with a smaller brown tom.

"Taricoat! Taricoat!" the two yelled in unision, and the blue-grey tom looked down at them, a smile in his eyes. "Take us hunting next time aswell!"

Taricoat purred happily, before bending down and licking both of the kits behind their ears, even as their mother, the queen Gakuleap, stepped up to behind them, flinging her tail around the two identical kits.

"You two know better then to run away from the nursery," Taricoat mewed, even as he licked Gakuleap's ear.

"But Taricooooaaaat! We're bored! There's no kits to play with, except her!" they both yelped, pointing at each other, causing Taricoat to purr lightly.

"Give it a few more moons, and you'll both be apprentices," he meowed comfortingly, before turning to the brown apprentice beside him. "Hiyopaw, go take that sparrow to Takiheart to eat, won't you?" Hiyopaw nodded, before heading off to the cave where Takiheart, IceClan's medicine cat, resided. Taricoat turned back to his family, smiling, before leading them back to the cave that doubled as a nursery.

"How are you, Gakuleap?"

"You mean besides exhausted?" the fiesty she-cat asked her mate, yawning as her kits ran ahead of them back to the nursery. "I knew kits could be tiring, but we haven't had kits in camp since Hiyopaw's litter, and he was the only one to survive the Dark Hour from his litter."

Taricoat nodded, looking back over at his apprentice, who was now sitting just inside Takiheart's den, chatting away with the talkative medicine cat.

Taricoat and Gakuleap spent the rest of the sundown talking in front of the nursery, watching Redkit and Bluekit play in front of them. Just as Taricoat was getting up to organise one last hunting patrol for the night, a light grey tom bounded into camp, yowling for help. Taricoat jumped up and ran to the tom's side, looking him over.

"Otopelt! What's wrong?"

"An eagle!" yelled the grey tom. "An eagle swooped Kabapaw! We saved him, and scared off the eagle, but he's badly injured, and I left Jirofur with him, and came back to get Takiheart…"

Taricoat hissed, before bounding over to Takiheart, and telling her the story. To IceClan, eagles were the biggest threat. They lived on the side of a mountain, using the streams that run down it to catch prey. Normal predators for cats, like badgers, or foxes, or coyote's on the plains of DemonClan, could not climb the side of the mountain, and therefore IceClan were safe from they weren't safe from, was predatory birds.

Taricoat leapt out of the camp, Takiheart and Otopelt on his heels, and leapt up the crevices to the next ledge on the mountain, before running along it quickly, to where Otopelt had said he'd left Kabapaw and Jirofur.

"Jirofur!" Taricoat yelled, and the sleepy ginger she-cat poked her head out from inside a crevice.

"Taricoat! Over here!" she yelled, pushing a very limp dark brown apprentice out of the crevice, looking down at him thoughtfully. Takiheart pushed past Taricoat, rushing to Kabapaw's side, looking him over before starting to apply cobwebs. Otopelt watched on, as Jirofur started to explain to Taricoat what had happened. Kabapaw had said, in his quiet voice, that he thought he had smelt something, and went of to try and catch it. When Jirofur had recognised the scent, she had ran after him, and fought off the eagle from Kabapaw.

"It was real dangerous!" Jirofur said excitedly, before looking seriously down at Kabapaw. "I hope Kabapaw's alright." Taricoat nodded, as Takiheart pulled away from the apprentice.

"I can do no more here. The best thing for him right now is rest, and the rest is in the hands of StarClan," she said, looking solemnly at Taricoat, Jirofur and Otopelt. "Taricoat, can you and Otopelt carry him back?"

Taricoat nodded, and the IceClan deputy went to Kabapaw's side, even as Otopelt went to his other. Together, they bent down and pressed their pelts against Kabapaw's, carrying him gently back towards camp.

"Taricoat! Taricoat!" came the shrill voice as the group entered the last ledge before the camp. The leader of IceClan was waiting for them just in front of the entrance, her blue eyes looking at the patrol questioningly.

"I get back from the border patrol with Shidowind, and find the camp being guarded by an apprentice, a queen, two kits and an elder…" she was about to continue when she noticed Kabapaw, putting her rant to a stop. "What happened?"

"An eagle, Atostar," Takiheart insisted, pushing past Atostar and into the camp. Atostar took a last look at Kabapaw, before following Takiheart into camp.

"Come on," Taricoat insisted, carrying Kabapaw back into camp.

"What happened to Kabapaw?" Redkit and Bluekit asked, sitting in front of the nursery. Taricoat flicked his tail at the kits in recognition, before making his way to Takiheart's den, and setting Kabapaw down. Hiyopaw looked at Kabapaw, before turning to Taricoat.

"Will Kabapaw live?" he asked, in his straight forward manner. Taricoat looked down at his apprentice, before sighing.

"I don't know, Hiyopaw. We'll have to wait and find out."

* * *

Fujieye licked her paw, before dragging it over her ears to clean them. The beautiful sandy brown she-cat was supposed to be guarding the entrance to camp, but Fujieye had never been one to listen to Oishiheart. The only one she really ever intended to listen to was Tezukastar. So she sat there, waiting for the patrol that had gone to LeftClan's border to return. Her best friend was busy, inside the camp taking care of her kits, so she didn't have any time to spend with Fujieye. Not that Fujieye minded. She was the only she-cat warrior in PillarClan, since the darkest hour had happened. No one knew exactly what had happened, everyone just knew that they never wanted it to happen again.

Fujieye turned around, hearing something inside the camp, when she was tackled behind by a small black she-cat.

"Ryopaw!" Fujieye hissed, pawing at the young apprentice to get off her back. The black apprentice jumped off Fujieye's back, before looking up at her.

"Why are you sitting here?" she asked, in the quiet, curios manner she had. Fujieye looked at her for a moment, before shrugging.

"I was instructed by Oishiheart to guard the camp while he took Momoclaw and Takaface on patrol," she told the young she-cat, making sure not to lie to her. Ryopaw tended to be very quick to notice things, much like her sister, Kaidpaw, who was Inufang's apprentice, the medicine cat, who a lot of cats thought was crazy, but was one of the best healers around.

Ryopaw looked at Fujieye for a moment, before shrugging, and sitting next to the older she-cat.

"When I become a warrior, I'll be better then you," she insisted, causing Fujieye to purr. "It's true!" she added with a hiss. "Tezukastar told me I'm going to be the next great leader."

Fujieye purred some more before bending down and licking Ryopaw's head.

"You're a silly apprentice. Becoming a leader isn't about being better then being everyone else. And you have a while to go before you become the next great leader. Tezukastar is healthy, and has many lives to go, and you're not even a warrior."

"Momoclaw says you love Tezukastar," Ryopaw mewed, looking up into Fujieye's brilliant blue eyes. "Is it true?"

Fujieye looked down at Ryopaw, trying not to show the shock on her face. No one was supposed to know that, no one! Well, that blasted medicine cat new, but that was because he supposedly knew everything. Had he blabbed? Fujieye was cut off from her thoughts as Ryopaw continued.

"Momoclaw had a fight with Kaidpaw again, and Kaidpaw accidently blurted it out."

"And how did Kaidpaw know?" Fujieye asked, quite ready to tear the head off of Inufang. Ryopaw shrugged.

"Everyone knows Inufang tells Kaidpaw everything. If he didn't, then Kaidpaw wouldn't be as good a medicine cat as Inufang."

Fujieye shook her head, before looking back in the camp. Eijiblaze had ventured out of the nursery, probably leaving her two small kits asleep to fetch food. Fujieye turned back to Ryopaw.

"Do me a favour, stay here until Oishiheart's patrol gets back?" she asked, and the young apprentice nodded, before shrugging.

"Tezukastar's asleep, so you know…" Fujieye shook her head, before walking into the tunnel that was PillarClan's camp. Because PillarClan boarded LeftClan's woods, and DemonClan's plains, the open areas of the hills that was PillarClan's territory was not very good for catching prey. They weren't as fast as DemonClan, so they couldn't catch rabbits like them, and they weren't good at jumping like IceClan, so they couldn't climb the few trees that scattered their territory. And they didn't have the sneaking skills that LeftClan had to catch the very few mice that ventured onto their lands. So they dug tunnels, leaving open spaces to attract small animals so they can catch them and eat them. Eijiblaze ventured across the main part of their tunnel system, looking at the fresh kill pile with a hungry look, and was about to take a nice juicy looking rabbit when Fujieye came up to her.

"How's Tawnykit and Chillkit?" she asked, as Eijiblaze sat down with her to share the rabbit.

"Healthy," the excitable she-cat said, purring as she tore into the rabbit. "They drink and sleep a lot, like most kits…" She glanced towards the nursery. "Their just lucky, I guess."

Fujieye looked at Eijiblaze. PillarClan had been hit bad by the dark hour… Not as bad as DemonClan, but still bad. Eijiblaze's sister, Sunfire, hadn't made it, much like Ryopaw and Kaidpaw's mother and father hadn't made it.

"We're all lucky," Fujieye said, moving to lick Eijiblaze between the ears. "It could have been worse. At least we only lost warriors and apprentices. DemonClan lost both Queens and Elders."

"I know…" Eijiblaze sighed, looking at the nursery again. "But I can't help but think that I hadn't had Tawnykit and Chillkit, this wouldn't of been a problem."

"You regret having them?"

"No!" she yelped, looking at Fujieye with wide eyes. "I could never ever regret having Oishiheart's kits. And they're so cute! And they're…" She sighed, turning back to the rabbit. "lucky, I guess."

Fujieye purred, a smile lighting her eyes. "You're right," she mewed. "They are lucky. They have a mother, and a father, who love them very much. Don't worry about such things, alright? The darkest hour is not coming back."

"Nobody knows that," Eijiblaze whispered, even as Oishiheart, Takaface and Momoclaw entered the tunnels. "Nobody can tell when it's going to come back, Fujieye."

* * *

MissElla: Well, there you go… the first chapter of my WarriorsPrince of Tennis crossover… I don't know if it did any good, because I haven't written as a cat in a while… Actually, I haven't written as anything in a while, but here's this, anyway!

Reviews make Kabapaw say 'Usu!' at least once in this fic. :D


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